Sharpie
by Kaylin Tesla
Summary: Connor Temple was bored. So what happens when he finds a sharpie and a perfect chance to prank one of his team mates? Trouble.


Connor Temple was bored. And nothing is worse than a bored Connor.

After visiting Jess in the center room and rambling to each other for a good half an hour about chocolate, he made his way to find Abby before she left for the day. Granted it was already nine o'clock and most of the staff had already gone home, he found her talking to Matt in the hall near the animal research lab. They talked about Rex for a few minutes before Matt excused himself. The couple followed him into the locker room so they could retrieve their bags and head home too.

What they didn't expect to find was a sleeping Captain Becker on the bench across the lockers. The man had his feet planted on the floor and his arms folded under his head. It looked like he was half dressed in his civilian clothes before he decided to take a nap. The red plaid jacket laid unzipped over an untucked black t-shirt. He had replaced his boots with a pair of brown ones and the usual black pants were replaced with a pair of dark jeans.

Abby, Connor, and Matt stared for a long minute before exchanging confused looks. Abby was the first to whisper: "Is he alright?"

Matt raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. He hit his head pretty hard earlier when we were chasing the creature." He whispered back.

Connor tore his gaze from the sleeping man. Ignoring the questioning looks from the other two people in the room, he opened his locker as quietly as possible and searched around the top shelf. A smile spread on his face as he found what he was looking for. He turned around to face his teammates, a black sharpie marker in his hand and a maniacal grin on his face.

Abby began shaking her head the moment her mind recognized the small pen. Matt bit back a laugh at the thought. It didn't take a degree in mathematics to know what Connor wanted to do. Despite Abby's horrified look, Matt whispered to Connor, "I'll pay ya to do it."

Connor's grin grew even larger at that. Just as he was going to take a step forward and uncap the marker, Abby grabbed his arm in a vice grip.

"Have you gone mad! He could kill you with that thing!" She hissed.

Matt chuckled quietly. "Abby, it's fine. I doubt Becker is actually asleep anyways." He whispered with a reassuring smile.

Abby studied the two men for a long minute. Then turned her gaze to the Becker, who shifted on the bench slightly. The faint rise and fall of his chest and the stillness of his eyes under the lids showed that he was definitely occupying dream land at the moment.

Connor slid his arm from Abby's grip and uncapped the marker. Abby turned around and covered her face with her hands, determined not to watch the captain murder the scientist.

Matt watched the younger man bring the marker closer to the captains face. For a long minute he thought Becker was faking being asleep. But that was quickly dismissed when the marker made contact with his nose. He must not have been sleeping very heavily because the smell of the marker caused him to jerk. Which only made matters worse when he fell off the bench and knocked Connor down with him.

Abby turned around when she heard a loud thud followed by a groan. Becker was laying across Connor's legs with his forehead on the floor. He carefully pushed himself up and shot a confused glare at the teammates in the room. Matt rushed over to help the two men to their feet.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Becker asked angrily as he sat down on the bench again. He massaged his now thumping head with his hands. Connor was leaning against a locker, a hand over his mouth to conceal the outburst of laughter. A wide grin spread on Matt's face when his eyes traveled to the long black marker streak on the other man's cheek.

Abby noticed it too, but instead of laughing or grinning like her other teammates, she sat down beside the captain. She took note of the small red bump on the right side of his forehead and the way his hair stuck down towards the back. "Did you get yourself checked out after we got back today?"

Becker refused to look at them. Instead he leaned his head down in his hands and concentrated on breathing through the horrible nauseous feeling in his stomach. He mumbled something about not needing it. Then preceded to rub the heels of his hands in his eyes.

The smirk from the other two men in the room dropped at the sudden realization. Connor's face was painted with concern as he watched Abby rub Becker's back and told him to breath carefully. Matt crouched down in front of the captain and pulled his hands away. He studied the man's eyes for a moment before hitting his comm. link in his ear.

"Jess, send a medic and a stretcher to the locker room please." He ordered over the comm. He glanced at Abby who returned the same concerned look.

"Becker, I need to know, did you take anything for the headache? You have a concussion so if you did it could make it worse." Abby asked in a quiet voice.

Becker rubbed his eyes tiredly. Then answered "Yeah. Advil."

Connor pushed off from the locker and started to pace. The black sharpie marker still in his hands as he twirled it between his fingers. "So you were sleeping in the locker room because you were too stubborn to get checked out after getting thrown around by a raptor?" He asked hotly.

Becker's head shot up from his hands. Pointing a shaky finger at the scientist he answered in a slur, "I did get checked out. I've got no broken bones. Just a few scrapes and bruises." Unfocused brown eyes scanned the room. Then settled on the sharpie in Connors hand. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why do you have a sharpie?"

Connor looked down at his hand and stuttered for a response. "I like sharpies." He answered quickly.

Even in Becker's current state, he wasn't stupid enough to believe that. He was just about to question it further when he heard the unmistakable sound of high heels clicking on the floor. The door to the locker room opened to reveal a very concerned Jess and a man in a blue medics uniform. They all turned to see who had entered when Jess rushed over to Becker's side. His unfocused eyes tried to catch up with her as she sat herself on the other side of him.

"You alright?" She asked in a high pitched squeak. Becker just gave a slight nod before burying his head in his hands again.

The medic talked in a hushed tone to Matt for a long minute. Then made his way to crouch down in front of Becker. "Captain Becker, how about we get you to the infirmary." He said calmly.

Becker just shook his head again. "No, I'm fine." He insisted. Just to prove his point, he straightened on the bench and stood up. Unfortunately the world began to turn to the side which wasn't helping his headache. He felt his legs bend underneath him. Closing his eyes, he hoped he wouldn't do a face-plant in front of his team. He was still trying to get over the embarrassment of letting Matt shoot him with an EMD. That had ended about as well as this was going. Horrible. Before he could hit the floor two sets of strong arms grabbed him and held him up. He heard Jess gasp in fright, heard Abby yelling for Connor to grab the stretcher from the hall, and then the medic and Matt talking loudly to each other as they pulled him onto the stretcher. Then nothing.

After an hour of waiting Matt had given up on the captain and headed home. Abby and Connor were about to do the same when a young nurse in a blue nurses outfit came to greet them.

"You lot here for Captain Becker?" She asked.

All three of them nodded. Abby took over and asked the question they needed an answer to more than anything else. "Is he alright?"

The nurse nodded and gave a confident smile. "He's going to be fine. He's got a pretty bad concussion along with some scrapes and bruises. We had to give him stitches on a rather large gash on the back of his head but it should heal just fine. He's a bit groggy from the meds the doctor has him on but you can go say good night to him if you like. He'll be staying overnight and possibly until tomorrow evening."

"Can we see him now?" Jess asked in a small voice. The nurse gave her a kind smile and nodded. The three team members followed her through a set of glass doors and down a hall. After a few more doors passed she stopped them outside of a wooden door. The walls next to it were thickened glass with long dark white curtains hiding the occupant. She pushed the door open and peeked her head inside.

"Captain Becker, you have some visitors." She called out.

As they entered the room Jess rushed over to his side. He was propped up on a stack of pillows with a long bandage wrapped around his head. His normally perfect combed hair was messy and sticking up. A set of white scrubs poked out of the white blankets as he shifted slightly. A smile crept on his tired face when he saw his team.

"Hey guys!" He beckoned them over with a sloppy wave of his hand. Jess sat on the end of the bed next to his feet while Connor and Abby stood on either side of him. After a few moments Becker turned to Connor. "The nurse said someone markered me."

Connor fought to control his fit of laughter. The black mark on the man's cheek looked smudged like someone had tried to rub it off with something. A grin broke out on his face. "I don't know what you are talking about. Maybe you did it to yourself." Connor answered in a smart tone. The nurse had told them he would be groggy...maybe he could pass the blame off...

Becker frowned at that. His unfocused brown eyes stared at the wall behind Jess for a minute before answering, "Yeah...Maybe I did..."

That didn't help Connor's barely controlled laughing fit. He brought his hands to his face to hide the maniac grin. Abby and Jess both stared at him, their mouths slightly agape. Abby's face turned from concerned to pissed off in less than three seconds. "Connor!" She hissed.

Connor turned his back to them and tried even harder to control himself.

"What's he laughing at?" Becker asked innocently. His words slurred slightly.

Jess smile kindly at him. "Oh nothing. He's just being Connor. So, you feeling any better?"

The captain leaned his head back against the pillows with a sigh. "Yeah, just tired." He answered quietly.

There was an awkward few minutes of silence as Becker drifted off to sleep and Connor regained his composure. The grin plastered on his face wasn't exactly something he could let go of. He glanced at the sleeping man, then at Abby who was pulling the sheets tighter around Becker. "Right, well, we know he isn't gonna die now. So I say we go home. It's late. And I would hate to be here when he wakes up and sees the new cat whisker he's got."

Jess fought back a laugh. "Alright. I'll drive." She stated as she got up from the bed. Abby followed Jess from the room with Connor staying a few feet back. Abby glanced behind her and gave him a quizzical glare.

"You coming?"

Connor just nodded and gave her a wide grin. "Be there in a minute."

Abby followed Jess down the hall and towards exit. A minute later Connor ran up to them, pocketing the black sharpie as quickly as he could before someone saw it. "Come on."

The next morning Jess and Abby dragged Connor from the flat. His current rant about not wanted to enter his work space was starting to get annoying. And Abby didn't like annoying. Half an hour into the work day Connor had managed to hide himself in one of the labs. Claiming that he was helping recalibrate some non-existent circuit attached to the security system. Abby knew something was up. But her suspicions weren't verified until she noticed Becker sitting in the locker room. He was dressed in the same civilian clothes from the day before and his back was turned to the door as he sat hunched over on the bench. It looked like he was rubbing something on his face, but she couldn't tell.

She took note of the white bandage still wrapped around his head. She knocked on the wall next to the door lightly, almost laughing when he jumped. "Hey." She greeted.

"Hey. Do you know how to remove permanent marker from skin?" He whispered.

Abby raised an eyebrow at the strange question. The fact that he wouldn't turn to face her and that he was hidden away in the locker room seemed to ring a bell in her head. She clasped a hand over mouth. "Wait, did Connor really..." Her voice trailed off as Becker turned to look at her.

His embarrassed brown eyes focused on the floor by her feet. Two sets of three black marks grazed his cheeks. The tip of his nose painted black. In all, it looked like he was going as a cat for Halloween, involuntarily. "I'm gonna kill him. With an actual gun. Using bullets." He whispered angrily.

Abby bit her tongue to stop the laughter creeping in her throat. If he wasn't on pain meds and recovering from a concussion, she would have busted a gut laughing. But natural sympathy took over. "Yeah, fingernail polish removal will work. I think Jess has some. Stay here."

Without waiting for a reply she rushed from the room and towards the ADD where Jess was stationed. She skidded to stop behind the large swivel chair. "Jess, please tell me you have fingernail polish removal in your purse."

Jess turned around in her chair and raised an eyebrow. "Of course I do. Why?"

"Good, I need you to get it and follow me."

"Okay..."

Matt Anderson was used to being late for his job. Oddly enough, no one seemed to chastise him on it too much. So after being twenty minutes late he figured he would drop his gym bag in his locker, check in on Becker, and then go finish paperwork in his office. When he entered the locker room he didn't expect to find anyone. But to his surprise he saw a very unconscious Connor propped up on the floor in front of his locker. His messy short brown hair sticking up in spikes.

But that wasn't what made Matt grin like a mad man. Connor Temple was wearing make-up.

Red lipstick, blue eye shadow, hell, even his fingernails were painted a bright pink. He stirred slightly.

Matt laughed loudly for a long minute before controlling himself and checking on the other man. As he pressed two fingers to his neck, Connor groaned.

"Connor, you alright?" He asked with a small laugh.

"What happened?" Connor mumbled.

"I think Becker just won." Matt answered with another barely controlled laugh.

Connor's eyes widened. He straightened himself up and using the locker behind himself, pulled himself to his feet. Matt pulled open the locker for him to look into the mirror attached to the door. "Oh my god!"

Jess, Abby, and Becker crowded around the captains computer screen on his desk. Jess had hacked her way into the camera for the locker room. They all burst out in a loud laughing fit as they watched Connor screaming his head off at his own reflection in the locker mirror.

Once they could breath properly again, Becker reached in his desk drawer and pulled out two chocolate bars. Abby took one while Jess took the other. "Thank you both. Now, I'm going home."

"See you tomorrow!" They called back before he left the room. Once he was gone from sight they ripped open the chocolate bars and took a bite. They watched as Connor tried to rub an old gray towel over his face, but only seceded in making the make-up run more. Matt had to sit down on the bench by the lockers to catch his breath.

"Yep, Becker won." Abby said with a mouth full of chocolate.

Jess swallowed the large bite in her mouth and nodded. "Did Connor really ever stand a chance?"

They both stared at the screen as Connor started to bang his head against the locker door in frustration. This caused Matt to laugh even harder.

"Nope." They said in unison.

Author's Note-

This is my first published fan-fiction of any kind so I hope it's decent. I have more fan-fictions that I will upload later. I don't own anything involving Primeval, just borrowing. Let me know what you think. :)


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